Excited but Exhausted...

This week has turned out to be quite a big week. Number one, it has been absolutely beautiful with sunny skies and temps mostly about 58/60 degrees everyday....I love the warmth of spring....it cometh soon.....tomorrow!! YAHHHHHYYYYYYY!!
So....on with the week recap...so I have spent most of the time the kids have been in quiet time, at school and or taking naps outside working in the yard doing major clean up work from our trees and cleaning out flower beds and let me tell you we still have a lot to do! Luckily two angels (who happen to be related to us:) came to our house about a month ago when we were in Virginia and Maryland and sneakily picked up what remained of the branches and twigs in our backyard saving us a TON of work!! Now we just had to give the yard a good rake and try and "spread out" the needles so the grass didn't die underneath the mass of them in the yard....that however has taken us a good month to get done...it wasn't that we didn't have the time because it really didn't take very long...it was more like we didn't have the freedom to do it....you know how it goes with kids....I was kinda waiting for a time when Keith would not be traveling and could watch kids while I worked or vice versa....well that never happened so this week, since it was so nice....I got out there and raked and raked and the backyard is officially well....raked...not to say it's perfect....I will have to be careful in my mandatory (in my own opinion) bare-footing in the summer but at least now it is at least feasible and I won't get too poked....anyway so then we had this massive pile of leftover branches and pine needles to disperse of and I planned to do it on Saturday with Keith...but....my AWESOME neighbors snuck around in the rain yesterday and burned them up in their burn pile....did I mention that I have AWESOME neighbors? Mind you this is not the first time they've done something like this. In the past I have caught them picking up sticks...mowing the lawn...spraying weeds.. trying the clean carpets.....bringing meals....shoveling snow..and all sorts of other stuff. Now....it is true that they don't have any kids and now no dog either to care for so they may be bored but they are soooooo unexpectedly kind hearted and I just love them!! We need to really pay them back sometime for all the ways they've bailed us out in the past anyway...huge blessing now we just have to fill up some holes and clean up the wood chips left from the stump chopper...move back our barn...plant grass and bam a new yard....well maybe not that fast but still...it's coming along. Today I worked inside the house cleaning and scrubbing my floors and bathrooms....I am absolutely exhausted and don't know if I can make it til Keith gets home but I am happy with a clean orderly house and a nicer yard....Clean feels good.....no matter how tired I am!

The excitement came just about 1 1/2 hours ago when my big brother called me to tell me I am an aunt again....YAHHHHY!! Everybody is heathly and happy.....They have a little girl...Jessica who is two and now they have a little boy Lucas Bradley....I love the name!! So...I am super excited but not about to go visit with my circus any time soon...I guess I'll just have to wait for pictures!! He was 7'bs 13 oz...smaller than the tank that we call Walter and the chub that was Gideon but still at the least a pound bigger than Jessica, Lucy and Ella! Welcome little Lucas!! We love ya already!! Can't wait to meet you and give you lots of kisses!!

Explanation

Ok----so Keith and I were looking for things to do on Sunday night and everyone knows we have a sick sense of humor sometimes.....well the kids had been playing with eatable playdough....made out of peanut butter...and we thought it looked an awful lot like baby poo and well.....tada......:)
Hope we didn't gross out too many people....it was kinda a spur of the moment impromptu thing...I was laughing so hard I was crying....you can hear me in the backround trying not to laugh outloud and see the camera shaking.....

Ahhhhh....we are so sick....

Oh Crap....

Happy Blog

Ok...so my last blog entry was incredibly negative so I thought I would write a positive one....

This last weekend was really fun!! We headed to Cleveland to celebrate Jacob and Josh's birthday with a swim party. Les and Jay had rented a hotel room next to the pool and we swam...and swam....and swam....and ate really good food....and swam and swam and swam...it was an amazing 72 degrees outside too so it was especially nice...felt like end of April rather than beginning of March. Gideon had a ton of fun. He was in his arm floatys most of the time....swimming all over the pool....we took them off to do some tricks but for saftey purposes and because he's not quite strong enough yet to be over his head without them....he had them on most of the time. Lucy took a bit to warm up to the water but once she did she was even letting go of us and trying to swim (with her life-jacket of course) Ella loved the water too...I think she could have stayed in the water the whole time. We stayed the night at their house and then headed home Sunday afternoon. It was a great trip...always good to see and spend time with family.

Yesterday I watched Devin...a foster kid of my friends one last time. He is going home to live with his parents now. Gideon was pretty upset that it was the last time we'd probably watch him. I don't know why....him and Devin were fighting back and forth quite a bit this time but still they have fun togethor I guess. My foster care babysitting jobs are working out quite well...although I am not...and I repeat NOT gifted at babysitting...having kids their ages helps out a TON!!! Anyway I am getting paid in meat....yes....meat...we are bartering...instead of payment they give me meat to stock my freezer. They go to the food bank for thier food for fostering and they can get up to 700lbs of meat and food for 7 cents a pound...so they are passing the savings on to me! It's great in these economic times...why mess with the money...it saves me a trip to the store and the gas money to get to the bank to cash the check and back home again! So...anyway it's working out well. Last night we were able to take the kids out in the backyard for a little bit of baseball and swinging. I am really looking forward to the warmer days ahead. I am already loving having more light in the evenings!! Well...I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy!!

Don't you hate it when.....

I absolutely hate puking...I admit it fully that I fear it like I fear a gruesome death....(I'm feeling very honest today:)...anyway...what frustrates me more than that is when one of my kids is sick specifically the one that can't talk.....and they can't communicate with me what's going on...how they are feeling....if they're tummy hurts...give me some warning that they are going to vomit...etc.....Seriously....it is so hard for me to just sit and wait for the inevitable....I want to be prepared....but ....unfortnetly with infants...there is little to no preparation until it's just too late....so a mother is stuck unable to do much to help the little one.....that's how I feel today...While I was taking Lucy out to the bus Gideon screams out the door...."MOM...ELLA SPIT UP EVERYWHERE"....Yah....great.....so I came in and diagnosed the situation....I asked Gideon if he had given her anything....like a pretzel or something....he said yes....I said did she choke and then throw up (I don't know why I expected a 5 year old to be able to answer this logically)....first he said yes...then...no....then....she just spit up....Ok....so Ella was screaming not letting me put her down.....and I have puke to clean up.....I manage to distract Ella with toys and clean up the puke....Ella then starts to whine again...I think...Ok...it must be the flu and not a choking episode....I have Gideon run and get a bucket and a towel.....no puke...in fact.....she is hungry....I give her a cracker...she eats it...and then another.... I then think....ok....she must just have choked....so I try and go about like normal and put her down....she starts to whine and cry.....this proceeds ALL MORNING!!! She is eating a little....which gives the indication that she is not sick but she won't let me set her down and is incredibly fussy and coughing a lot which gives the indication that she's sick...she was incredibly tired so I put her down for a nap early...I guess we'll just have to see when she gets up if she's fussy....I just wish she could say..."mommy...my tummy hurts and I don't feel good" life would be so much easier to be in the know as a mother !! Needless to say at this point I am not looking forward to the rest of the day!I am hoping she wakes up happyand herself and then my questions will be answered...but the not knowing and the waiting may just push me to my max today.....I think I am learning a lesson in patience.....sorry about the negativity....I just needed to vent! Wishing life with 3 kids could be easier at this point!

Pic's of the kids and Baby Walter

Only a matter of time.....

Feel free to zoom in on the picture so you can get a clear shot of what is to the left of the tree......Ahhhhhh can you guess what is going on.....Spring is nearly here....it's time to prepare the fields...and how do we prepare the fields......you guessed it....with nice warm manure.....MMMMMmmmmm....can you smell it.....it's only a matter of time before I do.......:) I found this particular "poop-flinger" quite interesting.....as it "flung" the unmentionables through the air...I could tell, because of the coldness of the day that the poo was actually warm....do you see the "cloud" following the tractor....I believe that to be poo steam....Yummy!! :( You see the ground is WAAYYYYYY too wet to create such a cloud so it can only mean that the "fertilizer" is warmer than the air and ground....Oh how I love living in the country....YEHAW!!

Anyway....enough potty talk (does that term count when it comes to a cow?? oh well)

So...we ended out the week last week quite differently than I thought it would...Keith was gone almost two nights rather than just one as I had hoped....he got stuck in the Minneapolis airport on the runway for about 2 1/2 hours because a blizzard was striking the area....Yah...this made me incredibly uncomfortable because of the recent downed planes due to such conditions....they would plow the runway....de-ice the planes and then allow a few to land and a few to take-off before they had to start the process all over again. Luckily he made it home in one piece and even earlier than first assumed! So, that kinda threw plans for a loop....the kids and I changed plans and went to my mom and dad's for supper for some "out of the house" time. Unfortunetly I didn't get much time with daddy because he got home around time for bed and then the next morning he worked until it was time for me to go work at the auction so we saw eachother in passing. Sat though we finally got some time all togethor as a family...which I was in desperate need for!! Sunday at church we had 6 baptisms and a young man who is an offensive lineman for Michigan spoke and was baptized. He has such a testimony....he grew up in the neighboring town and planned to go to OSU his whole life until he met the scouts for MI....anyway he became a Christian because of his girlfriend in highschool but unfortunetly last Christmas Eve his family was in a car accident and his dad and girlfriend were killed and his brother left paralized. Such a sad story.....but God is using him in awesome ways...leading guys on the football team and other friends to Christ because of how his life experience has changed him. Great message and even Keith enjoyed it....despite his feelings for MI :) Anyway it was really good! Yesterday we started out the week with a bang...I worked at the hospital and had to go to mandatory meetings...yay.....I learned all about infection control.....joint commission......saftey.......terrorist attacks........how you could freeze to death from the liquid oxygen tanks in the back of the hospital....real positive material :) But...at least I got it over with.....anyway then Lucy had an eye appointment....everything looked ok....but Lucy's got a cold and the Doc wants us to check a couple things when her cold is over to make sure there have been no changes in her condition.

The rest of this week looks good....we are busy with dentist appointments and other events. On Sat we are headed to Jacob and Josh's swim party....which Gideon is incredibly excited about. He wants to show off his swimming. I am amazed at how this "parent-child" swim class has helped him to swim. He has come leaps and bounds from where he was a year ago. He can actually "swim" now without floaty's or much help from Keith. I think we may enroll him in actual lessons this summer to perfect the basics he has learned but he should be pretty good to go...in fairly shallow water now! Anyway I hope everyone is staying healthy! We've been blessed so far but recently...as in yesterday have started with the respiratory junk that is going around.....COME ON SPRING....lets kill those bugs!! :)